Editor’s Note
Welcome to Newswire — your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what action we can take to make our city great, featuring public meeting coverage by City Bureau’s Documenters.
Quote of the Week
“When the city [doesn't] shovel the sidewalk after it snows, it is extremely difficult to just go and pick up a few things from the store with my granddaughter. She doesn't know how to safely push me [in my wheelchair] down the sidewalk. It is very tiring for her and me. What would take 45 minutes normally, with unobstructed conditions, can take twice as long, if not longer.”
— Public comment submitted in writing by Laura Donaldson, a disability and housing activist who uses a wheelchair, as read by Alex Nelson of Better Streets Chicago.
[City Council Committee on the Budget and Government Operations, Dec. 2, 2024]
Ready or not, City Council is barreling toward a budget vote this Friday at 10 a.m., and our official 2025 #ChiBudgetBingo board has dropped! Learn how to play ahead of the Dec. 13 budget vote here.
Digging deep
Disability advocates called on leaders to prioritize a city-run sidewalk snow-plowing program at a budget hearing with transit officials. A city report released in May recommended that the Chicago Department of Transportation pilot the effort in four zones, with a budget between $1 million and $3.5 million. Although the proposal received broad support earlier in the year, including from Mayor Brandon Johnson, officials left it out of the 2025 budget proposal due to the city’s nearly $1 billion budget deficit.
Following City Council’s unanimous rejection of a $300 million property tax increase in mid-November, Mayor Brandon Johnson floated an alternative revenue plan last week that included spending $2.64 million in more speed cameras, the Chicago Tribune reported. This would bring in an estimated $11 million to pay for mandated policing reform staff positions. On Tuesday, City Council’s finance committee narrowly approved the plan, which includes a $68.5 million property tax hike.
City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations by Naeemah Legair
Get in line
Long lines and limited capacity were challenges at some early voting sites, Chicago Board of Elections officials acknowledged during a city budget hearing. Adding more sites could improve accessibility, they said. Officials also noted issues such as voter suppression and election security, but they didn’t specify how they plan to secure funding to make improvements.
City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations by Rodney Watkins and Adlyn Morrison (morning) and by Cordell Longstreath and Kerry Snider (afternoon)
Cut the tape
Alders praised Sharla Roberts for her efforts to document and standardize the city’s processes since she was appointed this summer to lead the city’s Department of Procurement Services, which handles compliance, certification and other matters related to working with contractors. Alders referenced “Cut the Tape,” a report published by the city in April that identifies bureaucratic barriers to affordable housing and economic development.
City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations by Anna-Lena Schmidt
At City Bureau
Our biweekly look at what’s happening within our own programs, events and other work at City Bureau. Today is Documenters Day!
Documenters Day is a celebration of our program model, started in 2016 in Chicago, and its implementation and evolution across the country, which has engaged over 3,500 community members and paid out over $1 million to date.
Today, Documenters is so much bigger than just Chicago; it is a nationwide network of over 20 sites that are reinventing how we think about civic power and information. Here at City Bureau, we’re proud to have supported local newsrooms and orgs in bringing Documenters to their communities, and we feel lucky to learn and work alongside folks who bring their own nuances to the work. Documenters are paid for their work and receive ongoing training and support on their learning journey.
While public meeting coverage remains the foundation of the Chicago Documenters program, this year we got creative with interviewing, surveying, fact checking and editing. Chicago Documenters asked friends and family members what they remembered about when the Democratic National Convention came to town in 1968, conducted surveys to gather questions around the current election, and honed their fact checking skills while reviewing each other’s notes.
Donate here to support our continued innovation at Chicago Documenters and the infrastructure we’re building for the national Documenters Network. Plus, check out other stories from across country at the hashtag #DocumentersDay.
A version of this story was first published in the December 11, 2024 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story was published on Dec. 11, with the date of the Chicago City Budget as Friday, Dec. 13. This version is updated to reflect Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to postpone the vote.
Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Editorial Director Ariel Cheung at ariel@citybureau.org.